[GPSCC-chat] 3D Politics - 'Political Compass' and Beyond

[Eric A. Meece]

This is an excellent view of politics. Just remember though this is a European view, so the terms are a bit different than the similar model put out by the Libertarian Party of America. "Libertarian" (bottom of the chart here) here applies only to the liberal social or civil-libertarian aspect of the Libertarian ideology. Libertarian economics (i.e. classical liberal, social darwinist) is equal to "right" on this chart, and socialism is "left." That's why Greens are always in the lower left quadrant, and typical conservatives (which for them includes typical Democrats in America, the blue dots) are in the upper right. Libertarians in America, which are placed at the top of the Libertarian grid, are in the lower right in this chart; statists are in the upper left. The top of the chart here called "authoritarian" represents social conservatives and Nazis (right-wing statists).

Best wishes;
Eric the Green
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: alexcathy at aol.com 
  To: gplac-forum at cagreens.org ; sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org ; gpbc at googlegroups.com 
  Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 11:27 AM
  Subject: [GPSCC-chat] 3D Politics - 'Political Compass' and Beyond


  Dear Green Friends, 

  Scott McLarty, Green Party U.S. Media Coordinator, posted a Facebook link to an interactive web site known as Political Compass. According to Scott, the site returned these scores based on his reply to a battery of multiple choice questions: "Economic Left/Right: -7.12; Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.05, which places me in the lower left corner of the chart (slightly more libertarian than left)." 

  I was not surprised Scott's results were similar to mine. People at Political Compass strongly believe the old one-dimensional "Left vs Right" model for describing political parties is obsolete. They believe the model should include a "Libertarian vs. Authoritarian" dimension with four quarants for "Libertarian Left", "Libertarian Right", "Authoritarian Left", and "Authoritarian Right." Hence, the depiction of the 2008 presidential candidates posted on the TrèsSugar Web Site. 

   

  I agree. Indeed, I'd go further for two reasons. 

  First, the conflict between so-called conservative Republicans and so-called liberal Democrats in the U.S. doesn't even make sense along the old "Left-Right" dimension, since both are clustered in the "Authoritarian Right" quadrant. The only difference is demagoguery. Republicans use Big Government authoritarianism supposedly to serve hard-working, taxpaying, Christian "Whites" in "middle-class" neighborhoods. Democrats use Big Government authoritarianism supposedly to serve that 70% of Californians labeled "minorities" including, allegedly lazy, welfare-dependent, savage "Blacks" like my family and me in the "ghetto." 

  Second, I am convinced the growing conflict between stand patters for "Gray" industry and innovators for "Green" industry constitutes a third dimension. And it's along this third dimension where the great 21st Century political struggles are forming. 

   

  The irrelevance and divisiveness of the phony debate between so-called conservative Republicans and so-called liberal Democrats is why I plead for Greens, Libertarians, and all other serious independents to quit propping up the One-Party-With-2-Names by framing our dissent with old clichés, slogans, and stereotypes. 

  Read more to see the "Political Compass" test prologue. Check it out, take the test, then post a comment on my blog at California Greening: 

  http://cagreening.blogspot.com/2011/08/3d-politics-political-compass-and.html 
  http://tinyurl.com/3t6pze4 






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